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Adult Ministries and Missions
Stewardship:
At St. Lucas our emphasis is
on stewardship of life. With membership in the faith community comes the
understanding of commitment to our life together. We hope all members will find
ways to share time and talent as well as treasure. During our Stewardship
Campaign, we ask members to sign Intent to Give cards, expressing their
dedication to the work of Christ’s church in this place. You may indicate a
dollar amount or simply an intention to give as God has prospered you. No one
will tell you how much to give, or evaluate your personal stewardship decisions.
Mission and Outreach
is accomplished in a variety of ways: through the General Budget, with monthly
Benevolence Challenge offerings, with special activities, like Epiphany Baskets,
Sunday School projects for clothes and toys, and the Ice Cream Social. We also
participate in the Meal-a-Month program, filling yellow bags with groceries for
distribution at food pantries in the city.
Adult
Education
is scheduled seasonally, and
includes a variety of offerings: traditional Bible study, biblical topics and
current events, topical discussions of faith issues. Fellowship groups also
offer opportunities for spiritual growth in retreat settings and special
programs. Our mid-week Lenten series combines adult education opportunities with
worship and dinners.
The Caring
Ministry
was
organized in 1984, and is a group of volunteers who complement the work of the
pastors by contacting our homebound members, those recently home from the
hospital and families of the recently deceased. They also minister to the St.
Lucas Church family by delivering flowers, serving funeral meals as requested,
sending cards, and supplying the Care Notes booklets available in the Narthex.
Members of the Caring Ministry are a talented and dedicated lay group who work to extend the
love and care of Jesus Christ.
Reverend Carol Keller is the Minister of Congregational Life, under whose guise
The Caring Ministry serves. She may be
reached by phone at the church office on Mondays, Tuesdays and
Wednesdays, or by email at
ckeller@stlucasucc.org.
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Meal
of the Month
for August 2008
Spam or Treet
Canned Spinach
Canned Apple
Sauce
Muffin Mix
Optional—but always useful
Powdered Milk
August Mission
The
main mission of Feed My People is to supply emergency
food to anyone who needs it. We can supply either MO USDA
commodities, FMP food, or both.
Guidelines have been set for both the commodities and FMP
accordingly. FMP is one of the largest food pantries in the
metro area. We help people with emergency food twice a month and
if they are really having a hard time, we help them more than
twice. Our guideline is a three day supply, but usually what we
give stretches beyond that. We try to provide balanced,
nutritious meals. However, since much of our food is donated,
sometimes it is difficult to meet this goal.
Our
major sources of food are the St. Louis Area Food Bank and
Operation Food Search. These two organizations solicit
businesses to donate food to the food pantries.
Operation Food Search assigns to us different stores from which
to pick up usable food that cannot be sold. We pick up from
grocery stores, bakeries, and catering companies. We receive day
old bread and bakery goods, produce and fruit, and some prepared
food.
At
the St. Louis Area Food Bank we can buy food for ten cents per
pound. For every $10 we spend, we can purchase $100 worth of
food. Since our canned goods come mostly from churches, schools,
and organizations, we buy hamburger or chicken to supplement
what we put in food orders. Both the St. Louis Area Food Bank
and Operation Food Search have told us that we are their largest
customer. Your monetary donations are used to help us buy this
food; which is greatly needed and very much appreciated.
In
addition to the Food Bank and Operation Food Search, we also
rely heavily on the "Give a Meal a Month" program, and over 125
churches sponsor food drives to benefit the food pantries
throughout the area. This has helped us keep canned goods on
hand through the long dry spell of summer. We also try to
provide personal care items since most of these necessities
cannot be purchased with food stamps. Your donations also help
us keep these supplies on hand.
Donation envelopes for Feed My People can be found in this issue
of the
Visitor
and in the Sanctuary pews throughout the month of August.
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